ATHLETICS COACHES EXPERIENCING COOPERATIVE LEARNING FOR THE FIRST TIME: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

As cooperative learning (CL) is not yet well researched and widely used in competitive youth sport, we aimed to gather coaches’ experiences of CL to evaluate and promote its suitability for use in kids’ athletics. Four track-and-field coaches from Slovenia who coached mixed youth athletics groups were interviewed after conducting 30 training sessions with CL according to the experimental programme. In addition, the coaches wrote a reflective analysis after each session. The coaches’ responses from the interview and the reflections were analysed using thematic analysis and constant comparison. Three themes were identified: (a) roles in the pedagogical process, (b) interpersonal and small-group skills, and (c) transition to CL and related challenges. The coaches developed very positive attitude towards CL and group work in general. They reported that children acquired various interpersonal and small-group skills, which helped them in peer teaching and learning. The most difficult part was the beginning, as the children were not able to cooperate with their peers. Later on, the athletes were active learners and very confident in taking on different roles, including the role of the tutor. Because of this, the coaches’ role changed tremendously. Nevertheless, the coaches felt important in guiding the learners to the desired knowledge. CL is very effective in improving children’s learning in kids’ athletics and is also well accepted by Slovenian track-and-field coaches. However, we would suggest combining it with other pedagogical models. In addition, coaches would need additional training in CL to be able to decide which learning objectives should be targeted with which approach.

Keywords: pedagogical model, roles, peer teaching, autonomy, youth sport